1. The creation of a distinctly medieval culture: 300-1000
Medieval Fusion
The creation of a distinctly medieval culture:

2. Overview Background Barbarian culture
Classical institutions and traditions
The Judeo-Christian Culture
Discussion of Irish

3. During the Middle Ages, several cultures fuse within Europe
Barbarian
Germanic/Norse
Celtic
Gothic
Slavic
Ancient
Roman
Greek
Middle Eastern
Christian

4. Germanic Literature Literature as a source and its difficulties
Ancient literature: Tacitus - A Roman writes about Germania
Medieval literature: Beowulf, Njal’s Saga
Glorification of warrior heroes
great fighters
overcome incredible odds
superhuman strength
Often fatalistic in outlook; the inevitably of death
Love of gold and riches: plunder
Vengeance and retribution: law of the talion
barbarian legal codes

5. Germanic Literature: Beowulf
Composition of the poem
Sometime between 580 and 1000
Based on oral tradition
For public recitation
musical accompaniment
recited lyrically
Written manuscript from 11th century
Contains approximately 1/10th of all written Old English

6. Germanic Literature: Beowulf
Pagan/Germanic Elements
Mythical monsters
Norse gods
Magical weapons
Celebration of booty
Heroism
Fate and Mortality
Kinship

7. Germanic Literature: Beowulf
Christian Undertones
Moral anecdotes
Warnings against excessive pride
Tension with pagan themes
The ephemeral nature of life
Beowulf’s moral conscience

8. Barbarian Legal Codes Often include Ten Commandments as a preamble
Often written after conversion to Christianity
Money payments specified as punishment for
breach of the king’s peace
remuneration for theft and acts of violence
Money payments reflect higher value associated with members of upper class
acts of violence against members of the kings household require higher fines than acts of violence against members of the earl’s household

9. Summary of Barbarian Cultures
Rural or agrarian
Illiterate with exceptions
Strong kinship
Weak kingship
Social bonding
guilds of mutual assistance
comitatus
Violent and militaristic
Hero worship
Religion of magic and superstition

10. The Classical Contribution
In Contrast to barbarian culture, the Greco-Roman world was
more urban
less influenced by oral tradition
an abundance of literature, such as philosophy, letters, and speeches, were not stories
could be much more introspective
reflections on the human condition
classical humanism: focused on issues related to this life
little concern for the afterlife
more systematic
legal codes were based on system of classification
administrative structures were hierarchical

11. The Classical Contribution
The Greco Roman world preserved, modified, or enhanced many of the greatest achievements of the ancient Near East (Sumeria, Egypt, the Hebrews)
mathematics/astronomy
philosophy/religion
The classical world also developed forms of art and expression that were either scarce or totally absent in the barbarian tradition
theater
sculpture that accurately depicted the human form
In general the classical world was much more literate than the barbarians who had virtually no institutions for the transmission of learning i.e. schools

12. Christian Culture
Provided a method for the transmission of the tradition of literacy
precise theology: trinity and christology
administered by Church hierarchy
Shared ideology
otherworldliness: emphasis on afterlife
resurrection/redemption
God’s intervention in human history
Pliable and absorbing
Barbarian holidays
Roman organizational structure
Greek philosophy, rhetoric, and logic became embedded

13. Christian Culture Monasticism
emerged as a powerful social force in the fourth through sixth centuries
huge influence on Christian ideals
institutional framework for the preservation of the Christian tradition
the primary means of education between 500 and 1100 in the West
preservation of classical texts

14. Summary
After the fifth century the Byzantine Empire continued the Greco-Roman traditions with only minor influence from the barbarian invasions
By contrast, the Western Empire became increasingly barbarian in outlook and culture so that many aspects of the classical culture perished from most of western Europe
Monasteries played a vital role in the preservation of the classical tradition and particularly of the Roman tradition, which was not so highly valued in the Byzantine Empire

15. Timeline Roman Empire Ends: 476 CE The Early Middle Ages: 500-1000
Medieval Fusion
Pagan, Christian, and Greco-Roman cultures
High Middle Ages:
Crusades: and beyond
Late Middle Ages:
Black Death

16. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

17. Discuss barbarian culture
What types of sources can yield insight into the mostly illiterate people who inhabited northwestern Europe after 476?
What do we mean by the term barbarian?
What types of people were these barbarians?

18. Hunnish Empire c. 400

19. Vandal Sack of Rome: 455

20. Battle of Cape Bon, 468 CE, North Africa, 45 miles from Carthage

21. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

22. “The Empire” c. 500 CE

23. Which cultural traditions are most influential in US culture today?
Judaeo-Christian
Greco-Roman
Barbarian: Germanic, Celtic, and others
Arabic-Muslim
Eastern and Southern Asian

24. Romano-Saxon Pottery

25. Greek mythology on a Gallo-Roman plate from 4th century

26. Stilicho: Vandal and Roman Consul c. 400

28. Raedwald A Germanic king who tomb was a ship buried in a mound
His tomb had both pagan and Christian artefacts
He or his ancestors may have come from Sweden

29. Sutton Hoo Burial Mounds

30. Burial Mounds in Sweden

33. Beowulf

34. Discuss Beowulf
Why would Christian English want to hear stories about pagan Scandinavians?
What were Beowulf’s strengths and weaknesses?
What values did Beowulf reinforce for its medieval audiences?
What did the poet indicate when he referred to Grendel as a descendant of Cain?

35. How might you describe King Hrothgar?
Beowulf’s mentor
Beowulf’s enemy
Beowulf’s fighting companion
King who?

36. Christian in name, but with many pagan practices Pagan
If Beowulf was written around 1000, what was the likely religious orientation of the poet and the audience?
Christian
Christian in name, but with many pagan practices
Pagan
Pagan in name, with some Christian practices
Good question. I have no idea.

37. What was Beowulf’s religious orientation?
Christian
Pagan
Monotheistic
Henotheistic
A strange amalgam

39. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

41. Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms c. 700

42. Christian Evangelism among the English 550-700 CE

43. Gregory sends monks to convert the English

44. Augustine of Canterbury c. 600

45. Ethelbert of Kent Married Christian Bertha of the Franks
Converted to Christianity after arrival of Augustine in 597
Bretwalda
Produced first vernacular legal code in England

46. Laws of Aethelberht of Kent c. 600

47. Bertha of Kent
Frankish princess who brought Christian faith with her when she married Ethelbert
Inspired Augustine mission
Established St Martins Canterbury

48. Discuss the laws of Aethelberht
What are the main features of the laws?
What sorts of values did they reflect?
What was the purpose of having written laws for illiterate people?
What sort of society produced these laws? Consider gender, class, hierarchy, violence.

49. Ordeal by Fire from prehistory to the early 1200s

50. Barbarian Migrations 350-500

51. “The Empire” c. 500 CE

52. Approximately when was the Beowulf manuscript written?

53. What was Beowulf’s religious orientation?
What issues did his religious orientation raise for medieval audiences?
How did his period of kingship end?